Medication Storage and Labeling Deficiencies Identified
Penalty
Summary
Surveyors identified two deficiencies related to medication storage and labeling. In the South Station medication room, the medication refrigerator was found to be unsanitary, with moist dust buildup observed during an inspection. The Infection Prevention Nurse (IPN) confirmed that the refrigerator was designated for storing all medications requiring refrigeration and acknowledged that all medication storage areas should be kept clean to maintain medication efficacy and safety. The facility's policy required nursing staff to maintain medication storage and preparation areas in a clean, safe, and sanitary manner, but there was no specific cleaning schedule in place, and the policy was not followed. Additionally, in Treatment Cart 2, three opened and used ointment tubes—Silver sulfadiazine cream, Santyl ointment, and Mupirocin ointment—were found without documented opened dates. The Treatment Nurse (TN) and Director of Nursing (DON) reviewed the facility's wound care policy, which required all bottles and jars to be dated and initialed upon opening. Both the TN and DON acknowledged they were unaware of this requirement, and the policy was not followed. These deficiencies affected the storage and labeling of medications and ointments for 59 highly vulnerable residents.